Newspaper vending machines are an increasingly popular way of distributing newspapers throughout the country. Frequently, newspaper vending machines act on a honor system. That is, a consumer will insert the required amount of coinage into the coin mechanism of the newspaper vending machine which will then allow the consumer access to the newspaper containing cabinet of the vending machine through a manually-operated door. The door, being unlocked upon the insertion of the required amount of coinage, usually allows the consumer access to all of the newspapers. The dishonest consumer will take more than one edition of the newspaper. This is especially true when publishers, especially those in highly competitive metropolitan markets, offer a "game card," coupons, promotional inserts and the like with each edition. The dishonest consumer may take all of the editions, or at least more than the one purchased edition, in order to gain access to the game cards or coupons and increase his chances of winning a prize.
Thus, what is needed in the industry is a simple device to deter the theft of more than one newspaper with the device being capable of being retrofitted into the cabinets of existing newspaper vending machines.
The prior art discloses a number of devices designed to prevent the withdrawal of more than a single addition of a newspaper from the cabinet of a newspaper vending machine.
One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,074 (Owens 1985). Owens discloses a vending machine for newspapers designed to prevent the theft of periodicals by dishonest customers. The device of Owens can be installed in existing vending cabinets. Owens device is capable of dispensing newspapers of widely varying thickness to the use of an elliptical newspaper release roller (39). This roller depresses and buckles the top most paper of the stack to effect its release. However, retrofitting the Owens device into an existing cabinet (such as assignee's popular "K-80") would require extensive machining of the cabinet and replacing the existing elevator mechanism of the "K-80."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,896 (Harold 1987) discloses another machine for vending newspapers of varying thicknesses. The Harold device provides for a normally closed barrier member self-adjusting to the thickness of various newspapers and controlled by ratchet mechanisms such that upon withdrawal of the newspaper, the blocking mechanism is reset to lock in its closed position. The Harold device, however, is not retrofittable into an existing newspaper cabinet such as the K-80, and is mechanically rather complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,503 (Emmel 1975) discloses a newspaper vending machine to prevent the theft of newspapers utilizing a gate mounted so as to oscillate between a closed and open position, the open position allowing the removal of the top paper of the newspaper stack. The Emmel device is not easily retrofittable into existing newspaper cabinets such as the K-80.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,733 (Knickerbocker 1973) provides for a newspaper periodical dispensing machine. The Knickerbocker device allows for the displayed paper in the window of the cabinet to be secure until the last newspaper is withdrawn from the storage compartment. When the last newspaper is withdrawn from the storage cabinet, the Knickerbocker device unlatches the display case access door to allow the consumer to remove the display copy of the newspaper from the display case. The Knickerbocker device provides for dispensing of the top newspaper in the storage compartment when the access door is swung open. When the top newspaper is removed from the cabinet, all remaining newspapers are locked in a storage compartment. The Knickerbocker device, however, is not easily retrofittable into existing newspaper cabinets, such as the K-80, without extensive modifications thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,236 (Riedle 1991) discloses an anti-theft device for use in a coin operated dispensing machine which is designed to be retrofittable into the K-80 cabinet manufactured by assignee of the present invention. The Riedle apparatus includes a cover panel assembly (17), cover panel mounting bracket (18), and a reset mounting tab (19). However, the use of the Riedle device is needlessly complex, especially in the manner of retrofitting which requires the use of tools and extensive machining to modify the present cabinet of the K-80 by mounting, such as with bolts or the like, a reset mounting bracket to the inside door of the K-80, as well as mounting a cover panel mounting bracket (18) (see Riedle, FIG. 5) before the K-80 can accommodate the cover panel assembly.
Applicants' device solves a need for a less complex device by providing for a device to retrofit into the cabinets of newspaper vending machine racks to prevent the removal of more than one copy of the newspaper for each vend or door opening of the cabinet. The single vend device consists of a front panel with a T- or Y-shaped slot. The generally horizontal arms of the slot are normally closed off with a pivoted closure plate.
Consumer access to the newspapers is provided through the vertical leg of the slot, but the newspaper must be slid horizontally through the discharge gap between the closure plate and the front panel. The thickness of the gap is adjustable to selectively allow for the variation in thickness between various editions of the newspaper. The closure plate is spring loaded to be biased to the closed position. Following removal of the paper and the closure of the plate, a locking pin prevents the plate from pivoting to a release position until the cabinet door is closed. The locking pin is disarmed upon closure of the cabinet door.
It is a purpose of this invention to provide for a single vend device for easily (without tools) retrofitting newspaper vending machines that will help deter the theft of more than one issue of the newspaper by providing an adjustable width closure plate and an access slot, with resettable means for locking the normally biased closure plate in a locked position following the removal of single edition through the access slot.
A third alternate, preferred embodiment of applicants' invention provides a single vend device having a front panel with a T- or Y-shaped slot, the horizontal arms the slot normally obstructed by a pivoting closure plate, which is locked and unlocked through a cable attached to a door engagement member in such a way that as the door is moved, the door engagement member acting through a cable unlocks the closure plate and allows access to the papers through the slot in the front panel.
Still another alternate, preferred embodiment of applicants' present invention provides a simplified shape to the front panel such that the single vend device may be rotated into the newspaper cabinet opening and locked without modifying the cabinet in any way and without the use of spring-loaded tensioning devices heretofore necessary to maintain the panel in the cabinet.
Yet another alternate preferred embodiment of applicants' present invention provides a means to resettably lock the closure plate in a closed position comprising a mounting plate with a sliding locking prong mounted thereto and a moving plate having walls defining a channel, the moving plate being actuated by the closure plate and a trip lever for locking the locking prong in either a immovable position with the trip lever engaging the locking prong or a movable position with a trip lever out of engagement with the locking prong.
The alternate preferred embodiments of applicants' present invention described hereinabove which, when compared to those devices previously available, provide a number of advantages. First, the single vend device is easily placed into a newspaper cabinet or removed therefrom by the vendor without the necessity of using hand or power tools to modify the cabinet and without any clumsy spring-loaded tensioning devices. Second, the single vend device utilizes a cable for engaging the resettable closure plate locking means. The use of the cable avoids problems heretofore encountered with previous single vend devices which required sometimes delicate adjustments of the member engaging the door of the newspaper vending cabinet. Further, applicants' use of a cable rather than a metal rod takes some of the "bounce" out of the system when the doors of the newspaper rack is slammed shut. Applicants have found the cable actuated closure plate resettable locking means to be superior also in that they typically do not need to be set for adjustment in the field by vendors installing the device into newspaper cabinets for the first time. Last, advantages of applicants' present trip lever and prong operated resettable locking means provides an efficient, easy to manufacture, durable and long-lasting easy to operate single vend device.